Jace and the waking nightmare
by Alxe.1
Summary: A melancholic Jace reflects on his heartbreak as he sits battered and bruised in a hospital bed. (romantic one shot with light angst and surprises inside).


A/N - Hello. Mans supposed to be doing history revision but cba innit. Enjoy.

One shot

Clary had always been a constant in Jace's life. Until she wasn't, when he needed her the most.

Isn't it funny how someone will do that to a person? And then they will continue to weasel their way into that same person thought, feeling, entire being… even when all they want is to forget.

Jace wanted to forget, but he's mind wasn't letting him. Shifting in his bed again, Jace tried in vain to get comfortable… but it was useless. His whole body still ached, whether that was from the accident or from missing Clary, he didn't know.

"Jace?" the nurse, a plump middle aged Russian hag stuck her had round the door, her wild red hair the only colour in the devastatingly white room.

Jace didn't bother answering her, or even move for that matter.

He hated her. And her bloody red hair. She had a growling smokers voice and multiple gold rings adorning her fingers like an old fraud palm-reader. When he first came to the hospital, he would simply tell Helga to 'fuck off' whenever she would barge in carrying the shit the staff here dared to call edible food.

Helga dumped the tray on top of Jace's knees, not even bothering with the side table or the fact that one of his legs where broken (he probably deserved this treatment, lord knows he was an ass to her). By the smell of it, todays dish was Macaroni Cheese though it looked more like some kind of unidentifiable mush.

Jace could imagine Clary's reaction to it, she would say "ugh god!" and then try to get some in his precious blond hair. That was a painful thought. The kind that makes your chest feel hollow and your fingers ache.

He shifted unresponsive in the bed again. Helga paused for a minute, halting her fat ankles' journey to the door. Jace, the boy she barely heard talk (apart from a few "fuck off's") since he arrived here 6 weeks ago, looked up at her with dim curiosity. Jace could have sworn Helga gave him a sympathetic look before she once again retreated, letting the white hospital door swing shut behind her.

Jace began to let his mind wander again. He wondered what Clary was doing now; painting, washing her long red hair, listening to another one of Simon's shit poems... if anything she should be here, laughing at him moping in his hospital bed like a lovesick puppy, expect one that been kicked multiple times then maybe run over by a semi just for good measure.

His bones ached at the thought of being run over again. The pain had been unbearable the first time even though he had been absolutely hammered. You'd think someone so completely out of it wouldn't be able to feel too much pain but no, Jace had felt every second of it from when the truck had hit him to when the doctor had informed him he'd broken 4 different bones in his body and fractured his skull on impact. There was another longer list of minor injuries he had occurred during the fall but Jace couldn't for the life of him remember them all.

In the end it hadn't really mattered because the worst pain of all had come from something else. Or rather someone else.

Clary hadn't been to see him in six weeks since the accident. Maybe she was still angry, he reasoned. After all, had he listened to her and stayed in after their argument instead of hitting the bar to forget his woes, none of this would have happened. God, Jace regretted it so much. He couldn't even remember what the fight had been about but it definitely wasn't worth this heartbreak.

Jace shifted in the itchy bed again. How could Clary be that hurt by what had happened? It's not as if she got hit by a truck! No matter how Jace would feel towards her should their roles have been reversed, he still would have come to see her if she'd incurred as much damage to her body as he had done. Hell, Jace would fly half way across the world to kiss her papercut better if it pleased her!

With a huff, the melancholy blond folded his arms across his broad battered chest and settled in for a day of wondering; what if he hadn't have gone out? what if they hadn't have argued? what had the argument been about? how could he make it better if she wouldn't visit him?

As these thoughts danced across his melancholy mind the door opened again to permit entrance to another flourish of red hair. Turning to tell Helga to "fuck off!" again, the words swiftly died on his tongue when Jace was met by the beautiful sight of a glowing Clary.

She smiled at him widely. "Hey baby, sorry I couldn't make it here before; I've been so tied up recently with appointments and work - "

Jace quickly cut her off. "That's your excuse?". Clary frowned at his tone. Jace stared at her like she was crazy. His delight at seeing her had been replaced by anger when she'd come up with that shit lie of an excuse for not visiting him in hospital for 6 weeks! "I can't believe you! Six weeks Clary, I haven't seen you for six weeks! You can't use work as an excuse for that!"

Clary frowned again, then promptly sat on one of the hard vinyl covered hospital chairs. "Jace I have been to see you" she began to explain slowly. "I've been here nearly every day for the past six weeks". Jace stared at her in bewilderment. Maybe she had come to visit when he was sleeping? Jace was an incredibly light sleeper though and Clary would have woken him up.

"Hey" Clary spoke softly, smoothing the frown lines from his forehead gently. "It's okay if you can't remember. The doctor said to expect partial memory loss with a fractured skull. Do you remember me bringing Alec and Magnus here last week? They brought you that." Clary said, pointing at a little stuffed toy that looked incredibly similar to Magnus's pet cat, chairman Meow.

Jace hadn't noticed the toy before nor could he remember ever seeing his bother or Magnus in the hospital. Jace had thought everyone had abandoned him to the mercy of Helga and the horrible hospital food.

"The last thing I remember was the accident" Jace confessed, looking distraught at his apparent loss of memory. What else had happened to him?

"It's okay, Jace. The doctor said these memory loss episodes should only last around 10 –15 minutes and eventually once you all healed up you probably won't get them anymore" Clary told him optimistically though her eyes conveyed her worry as they assessed him. "Do you remember anything from before the accident?" She asked him cautiously.

"I remember fighting with you, then going out and getting pretty hammered. I don't even remember what the argument started over. Whatever it was, I'm so sorry Clary. I didn't mean for any of this to happen" Jace told her, heartbroken as he cradled his head in his hands.

Clary tugged his hands away from his face. "hey, it's okay baby, you've already apologised. Every time I come here you tell me you're sorry. The argument isn't wholly your fault, I should have told you in a better way but I was scared too plus I know how you react to surprises- ".

Clary's words were making him sound like some sort of grade A asshole so he swiftly interrupted her. "what was it about? What did I react badly to?".

Clary's face looked like she was bracing for and explosive impact as she delivered her next words …

"I'm pregnant".

Jace starred at her in shock.

Clary looked back, blinking and shuffling her hands to fill in the silence. Then she started yammering away.

"I'm surprised you forgot that. Usually when I come to visit you, you've forgotten that I came the day before or that I've been before. I didn't know the memory loss was this bad. You know six weeks is a long time ago that's pretty worrying, should I call the doc-"

Jace cut her off by abruptly seizing her shoulders and kissing her mouth.


End file.
